: "Why has Madame taken
Bragelonne's part against me?"

"Why?" replied Saint-Aignan. "Your majesty forgets, I presume, that the
Comte de Guiche is the intimate friend of the Vicomte de Bragelonne?"

"I do not see the connection, however," said the king.

"Ah! I beg your pardon, then, sire; but I thought the Comte de Guiche
was a very great friend of Madame's."

"Quite true," the king returned; "there is no occasion to search any
further; the blow came from that direction."

"And is not your majesty of opinion that, in order to ward it off, it
will be necessary to deal another blow?"

"Yes, but not one of the kind given in the Bois de Vincennes," replied
the king.

"You forget, sire," said Saint-Aignan, "that I am a gentleman, and that
I have been challenged."

"The challenge neither concerns nor was it intended for you."

"But it is I who have been expected at the Minimes, sire, during the
last hour and more; and I shall be dishonored if I do not go there."

"The first honor and duty of a gentleman is obedience to his sovereign."

"Sire!"

"I order you to remain."

"Sire!"

"Obey, monsieur."

"As your majesty pleases."

"Besides, I wish to have the whole of this affair explained; I wish to
know how it is that I have been so insolently trifled with as to have
the sanctuary of my affection pried into. It is not you, Saint-Aignan,
who ought to punish those who have acted in this manner, for it is not
your honor they have attacked, but my own."

"I implore your majesty not to overwhelm M. de Bragelonne with your
wrath, for although in the whole of this affair he may have shown
himself deficient in prudence, he has not been so in his feelings of
loyalty."

"Enough! I shall know how to decide between the just and the unjust,
even in the height of my anger. But take care that not a word of this is
breathed to Madame."

"But what am I to do with regard to M. de Bragelonne? He will be seeking
me in every direction, and--"

"I shall either have spoken to him, or taken care that he has been
spoken to, before the evening is over."

"Let me once more entreat your majesty to be indulgent toward him."

"I have been indulgent long enough, comte," said Louis XIV., frowning
severely; "it is now quite time to show certain persons that I am master
in my own palace."

The king had hardly pronounced these words, which betokened that a fresh
feeling of dissatisfaction was mingled with the remembrance of an old